


New Promises

by Heartensoul



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24317326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartensoul/pseuds/Heartensoul
Summary: New promises are made in the wake of loss. Naruto/Sakura, Canon Divergence.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	New Promises

Title: New Promises  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: Sap attack!  
Notes: Canon Divergence that completely ignores the last third of the series.

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They are lying in a field on the outskirts of Konoha, spent from a recent mission but still unwilling to let go of a yearly tradition. Naruto is sprawled out among the blades of grass, looking fairly comfortable despite his solemn look, while Sakura is curled up looking pensive and quite tired. They are inches apart, bathed in the light of fireflies and moonbeams, yet in their own worlds. They are lost in the memories of years passed, of the night when promises and hope of recaptured youth died in the loss of the battle for their missing teammate.

In the time that has passed, Naruto has made well over a dozen promises and kept them, somehow a penance for the one he was never able to keep. It seemed to hang on him like a weight that grew too heavy as the time passed, until it finally became a permanent shadow lying just beyond his eyes.

Sakura’s own weight captured her pain and gathered it together, a silent twinge in her heart as she fell into old memories, as she walked along the only road that lead out of Konoha. The pain signified not only the loss of a failed love, but of her own failed promise, the promise to be of use the next time around, the promise to save them both, which fell and lingered bitterly in her mind.

It took them many years to reconcile with the fact that it was Sasuke who took their promises and shattered them, not inadequacy or lack of love. And with that acceptance came loss of hope, but also the chance at renewal.

“Hey, Naruto,” Sakura whispers as she reaches out a hand to touch his open palm.

“Hmm?”

“I’ll never leave you.”

Naruto turns his head to face her, eyes glowing in the moon's light. Their blueness seems eternal and unending, capturing her and bringing them on the same plane, a mixture of need and hurt and desire. Suddenly feeling the need to lighten her statement, Sakura grins and adds, “promise of a lifetime,” in a very Naruto fashion.

But Naruto is beyond the point of smiling façades, his memories leaving him too raw to hide. He closes his palm around her smaller hand, his own promise held tightly in their fingers.

“Yeah, it’s a promise of a lifetime,” he repeats.

And a new promise is born, on the burial ground of the unfulfilled and disappointment, with only the fireflies to witness its creation.


End file.
